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Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Plans for the Spring

We only have 7 weeks of our Sonlight core left and it's only November. However, I don't want to start the next core early; I'd really like to stick to my schedule. I think we'll run into this problem every since we school year around. We do take breaks and have less intense weeks when we pare down school to the minimums, but we end up having an extra 11 weeks or so of school/year.

My plan for that time is to focus on reading some good literature that isn't contained in the Sonlight cores. We already read extra literature for fun, but this would be a time when we can really focus and devote some time to it. This year, we're going to do a quick run-though of Sonlight's preschool core: Fiction, Fairy Tales, and Fun for Little Learners. We own about 80% of this core, so I've scheduled it out over 12 weeks. We've been reading it here and there, but we usually end up re-reading C-Monster's favorites over and over. I'd like to go through it systematically to read all of the stories. Technically, D-Man's not in the age range for this core, but it contains classic literature that doesn't have an age limit. I'm most interested in his reaction to the fairy tales. They are not Disney versions, but the real thing. They haven't watched (or read) any of the Disney versions so they won't be comparing like I will, but there are quite a few surprise endings. We'll also be re-reading our favorites from Exploring God's World and adding in some extra science books.

Once we're finished with this, we'll go back to reading both Fiction, Fairy Tales, and Fun and Exploring God's World when the mood strikes us and at bedtime. I think there's a lot of benefit in repetition for classic stories like these. One of the benefits of buying Sonlight cores is that we end up with a nice family library for the boys to utilize. I won't be putting any books away until it is clear that they've all outgrown them. That might be a decade or more for these books. Here's my schedule for a 12 week run through of Fiction, Fairy Tales, and Fun:12 Week P34 Schedule

9 comments:

My son is a big younger, but we are facing the same problem. So I have decided to add in some curriculum from The Well Trained Mind too.

We have worked through P 3/4 twice ( starting on the third for my daughter ) and P 4/5 once. We plan to go through it again before we move on. But that will only take me to August when he is 4 years and 2 months hehehe.

So fun to find your blog! You are AWESOME! I'm just exploring homeschooling. My oldest just turned 4 and we've essentially been doing it loosely since he was 2. I can't believe what you fit into a day, day after day, and how enthusiastic your boys are! How do you do that all with the baby too? Crazy! I'll be checking in on you lots! So fun to catch up! Happy Thanksgiving!Jaimee Summers

Jaimee,It really isn't that much. Kindergarten is so easy and fun. It takes about an hour to get the hard stuff done and the rest is just reading. We get a lot done while the baby sleeps. They really are enthusiastic which makes me feel good :)

It's called Treasury of Christmas Stories. It says Library Classics on the cover and is published by publications international ltd. Their website is www.pilbooks.com. I got it at Costco last year for $10.

Tracey,As my dh says...I'm organized when I want to be :) I really love education and teaching the boys, so it's become more of a hobby. I love to share with those who can benefit from my hours of work since I'm going to do it anyway.

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I'm a child of the Lord just trying to figure out how best to raise these four little boys He's given me and loving almost every minute of it. It's amazing how much He reveals to me through this journey...and I'm supposed to be the one teaching.